Calling BS on Republicans' Free Speech Hypocrisy

Everything's a conspiracy when you don't know how anything works.

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(Photo by Mattie Neretin/Sipa USA, via AP Images)

Yesterday, House Republicans convened a hearing to discuss the need for “First Amendment Safeguards at the State Department.” The hearing didn’t focus on the Trump Administration’s ongoing assault on freedom of expression in the United States; instead, it was dedicated to conspiracy theories about “censorship” allegedly perpetrated under President Biden.

I was grateful the House Democrats invited me to testify. It was the first chance I’ve been given to publicly correct the Congressional record about my brief time in government and defend the broader disinformation research field, which plays a crucial role in informing citizens and keeping our democracies safe from interference.

I used my opening statement to highlight the flagrant violations of the First Amendment that Trump has directed over the past few weeks, in particular the unjust arrest of Rumesya Ozturk, a Fulbright PhD student at Tufts University, who was seemingly targeted for publishing an op-ed in the campus newspaper.

The Fulbright program—an exchange that has, since its inception, enjoyed broad bipartisan support—was created to promote “mutual understanding.” When I was a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow in Ukraine, I enjoyed nothing but the warmest welcomes everywhere I went. I used my rights to free speech there as I did at home: I spoke up about political developments not only in my own country, but in Ukraine. I wrote op-eds and articles. Those early writings were the seeds of my first book. But Rumesya’s writing made her a target of the U.S. Government.

“For using her constitutionally-protected right to free speech, she was spirited away by plainclothes ICE officers in broad daylight. This is what I am used to observing in the authoritarian countries I study.

If this had happened in a country in this Subcommittee’s portfolio, you would issue a statement of concern. But it happened here. So yes, we need First Amendment protections at the State Department—but not for imagined transgressions of previous administrations. We need protections from this administration, today.”

You can watch my full opening statement below.

I also got to confront the conspiracy theorists who have profited from peddling lies about disinformation research, as we detailed in our report on the “Information Laundering Cycle” last year.

I explained the difference between content moderation and censorship:

And I called out the Republicans who demand maximum transparency for organizations like ours, but don’t apply it to their political machinery:

My appearance yesterday would not have been possible without the American Sunlight Project team. I was proud to cite our research on Russian bot networks and LLM grooming before the subcommittee. Our small but mighty group was also invaluable in helping me anticipate all the unfair, absurd falsehoods and inaccuracies the Republicans would throw at me.

I filed the paperwork to start the American Sunlight Project just over a year ago, with the goal of defending the work that I and my colleagues in the disinformation research space had dedicated our careers to. I am so proud that all our work over the past year—research, advocacy, and public education—came together before Congress and the American people in such a gratifying way.

But as I write this I am receiving hate mail for having spoken the truth. A man left me a voicemail threatening both me and my husband. It’s clear that this work is not anywhere near done. Still, it has been my honor to step up and defend it. I look forward to continuing to do so, but we need your help.

Because the Trump administration continues to use its power to threaten American institutions, philanthropies and other donors are worried about investing in work like ours—work that challenges conspiracies and attracts criticism. We need support from small donors like you to retain the staff that made yesterday’s hearing possible and ensure we can continue publishing quality research that introduces accountability for powerful liars.

If you enjoyed my testimony and want to see us do more of this work, please consider making a donation to ASP or joining our Patreon community, ASPIRE, today: